29 Gifts: Being Generous With Family

One of the things I noticed this week is that is difficult to give daily with current lifestyle—I’ll spend days with no one but my immediate family. There’s nothing wrong with giving to them, but I want to be sure going above & beyond normal Momma duties, to really make it count. I enjoyed getting creative with gifts for my girls &amp the hubby.

Next week, I want to focus on spreading the love a little more—it may require going out of my way to, I don’t know leave. the. house. It’s our spring break, too, so it will be fun to involve the girls a little in what I’m doing. It will be the last week of my 29 Gifts project. That seems like the appropriate time to encourage giving in the next generation.

Day 15: Today I give with consideration.
Spencer is in the middle of a big, stressful project at work. I don’t know how to help him get through it. So, I sat down behind him last week and gave him a back rub—with no expectation of anything in return. I think he was confused, as we usually swap this kind of thing, but I wanted it to be a gift for him. Just something to show him I appreciate what he does for our family and recognize his struggle.

Day 16: Today I give with hope.
It’s been a rough time with Stacia lately. She is beyond grounded, but I think we’re finally making progress toward a solution. She was bummed to be missing out on the Girls’ Club sleepover at school, but I decided to take her. It was a chance for us to spend some time together and show her that we’ve noticed the changes she’s making. I even picked up a gluten free pizza at Monical’s, since she couldn’t eat what the rest of the girls had delivered.

Day 17: Today I give with hospitality.My brother and his wife visited her family for their spring break. He let me know on Friday that they’d be stopping by on their way back home. That was a nice gift for me, since I don’t get to see my baby nephew as often as I’d like. I had intended to make some cookies that day anyway, but I called my mom to find out Robbie’s favorites. Apparently, he’s a sucker for Rice Crispy Treats, so I hit the store for marshmallows & our gluten free rice cereal. They were a huge hit—he tore to the kitchen as soon as I mentioned them! It was nice to offer something special, just for him, on the spur of the moment.

Day 18: Today I give with purpose.
Lorelai was the snack volunteer for this week. Ordinarily, I would have hit the store for a few sale items, but as a special gift to her I took requests and picked up the bananas, grapes & cheese she wanted to share with her class. She was so excited to take her things to school the next day.

Day 19: Today I give with gratitude.
I had also picked up some browning bananas, with the intention of making banana muffins. Lorelai & I baked on Monday, and I decided to take it a step further. We made several mini loaves of bread and wrapped them in pretty plastic wrap. The girls took a loaf to school for each of their teachers. I hope it was a nice treat after test week. And, the girls were thrilled to take a special gift to the teachers they love.

Day 20: Today I give withYesterday, Brenia’s class had a Living Wax Museum. They were to dress up as the person they learned about in this month’s biography book report. She read Miles to Go by (and about) Miley Cyrus so, of course, we had to have some serious Hannah Montana sparkle. I went a step further, dug through my party supplies and found the Hannah Montana wig I had set aside for another purpose. (We have a lot of rock/fashion/diva parties around here—you just never know when you’re going to need a pop star wig!)

Day 21: Today I give in celebration.
I always try to go out of my way to be sure the hubby has a good birthday. So, it was going to be a challenge to find an extra gift on a day that was all about him. Earlier this week, I had stocked up on his favorite bell peppers—I had every color! So, I started his morning with an omelet. After taking the girls to school, I made his breakfast while he slept in a bit. I hope it was a nice way to start his day.

Heather Sokol is the founder of Inexpensively. She has been married to Spencer for many, many years. Together, they have five kids, fourteen pets, seven fish, and a web development company. What they lack is sanity.